I’ve put this question to adults of both genders. Guys usually give me a disdainful look, as if I’d asked, “Name your favorite algebra class moment.” In other words, guys didn’t much care back then, so they certainly don’t care now.

As for gals, as they try to answer the question, they get panicked, then almost apologetic. After all, girls spend a lot of time planning, fantasizing and hyperventilating prior to prom. But when it’s over — be it 30 seconds later or 30 years — it holds all the pizazz of a fizzled balloon.

And that’s amazing. Prom, with all its hoo-hah and hassle, is forgettable. Yet, like adjustable-rate mortgages and soaring student loans, soon prom might haunt you — and by “you,” I mean the parent of a prom-goer — for a long, long time.

This year’s nationwide average cost of prom is pegged at $1,949 per couple. Yes, that’s 1,949 American dollars.

The estimate comes from Golden Asp, a prom-dress retailer whose high-end offerings include a $918 creation that looks like a low-cut feather duster. The company notes proms have skyrocketed in cost in recent years. Why, in 2011, a couple could get by on a miserly $807. But that would be scorned as a peasant-stock prom, compared to the royal galas of just three years later.

Why? The survey doesn’t say. But I think it’s fair to blame the usual suspects: modern parents, who have lost their minds — along with the ability to say no.

Think I’m wrong? Think again.

Remember Molly Ringwald’s character in “Pretty In Pink”? With her father jobless, she worked feverishly to turn a second-hand dress into a fabulous frock.

But that’s Hollywood, and that’s not typical, according to a survey last year by Visa. Households earning more than $50,000 a year spent less on prom than the national average, while households earning less than that figure spent more than the national average. In other words, parents with less discretionary income shelled out more.

Why? I’d peg our usual fiscal foolishness. You know why some people always seem to have more money? They don’t spend as much. You know why some people often seem to have less money? They waste a lot.

That’s a crazy economic theory, eh? I’m a business-school drop-out, but I don’t need Adam Smith for help on this one.

Prom spending gets even worse with single parents. According to the Visa survey, single parents blew $400 more than the national average on prom. The survey didn’t parse the salaries of single parents, but they spent far more than the $50,000-plus households. In the process, I’m guessing, they probably busted their budgets and/or scorched their credit cards.

Does any of this make sense?

If you’re babbling about tradition, save it. There are lots of traditions that grow outdated. For instance, if you look at your health insurer’s list of preferred providers, you likely won’t find any barbers specializing in leech therapy.

And that’s what prom is: a leech — The Giant Leech that Sucked Away Our Billfolds.

What’s that, you say? You know how to hold down costs? Well, relatively speaking, perhaps. The Visa survey said Midwestern parents spent just half of what their East Coast counterparts did. Still, the Midwest per-person average last year was $722. And that doesn’t include post-prom.

Nationally, parents are picking up about 60 percent of the tab. Still, does this sort of financial outlay make sense? Even if kids chip in, are parents teaching them a prudent lesson in burning up this much cash for a single dance?

Before the whiners chime in with derisive speculation, yes, I went to prom. I wore a top hat, which was dashing. I drove my old man’s Ford, which was not. In other words, the spending was unspectacular, at best. Regardless, I can’t remember much of that super-special night, because — try to follow me here — I’m a guy, and it was a dance, and no one cares anyway.

And here’s something else to think about. In the next few weeks, the media across the country will run stories about schools that host mock accidents aimed to scare teens away from recklessness. Other stories will feature police chiefs urging kids to not drink and drive — or do anything else they shouldn’t be doing.

That’s all well and good. Yet what sort of life-threatening kiddie social affair have we created and endorsed? It’s a strange event indeed whereby parents’ greatest hope is their kids don’t get maimed. If they come home alive — and, perhaps as a bonus among the girls, unimpregnated — the prom is deemed successful.

Do we really need this? Is there anything better — like, say, upcoming college expenses — to spend the money on?

Maybe that sounds ludicrous. But say parents were to estimate their prom cost. Tell the kids, “You can blow this sum on prom. Or, if you skip prom — instead maybe do something good for the community — I’ll give you half of the total. Put it in your pocket; no strings attached. Just no prom.”

I know the choice I would’ve made. No top hat, but fatter wallet? Not even close.

PHIL LUCIANO is a Journal Star columnist. He can be reached at pluciano@pjstar.com, facebook.com/philluciano, 686-3155 or (800) 225- 5757, Ext. 3155. Follow him on Twitter @LucianoPhil.